This commercial for Autoway Tires, a Japanese tire retailer, is being passed around the Internet as the “scariest commercial ever,” which I guess it is, but only because it doesn’t have a lot of competition. (Actually, I’m going to take that back immediately — whatever commercials are the ones where people are having a normal conversation in a car, and then they get into a car accident? Those are the scariest commercials. Man oh man. But, in terms of “horror movie” type of scary, sure, this is the scariest commercial.) I can name one other “scary” commercial, and that is the Rob Zombie-directed Woolite commercial, and that one wasn’t even THAT scary! Which brings me to my question: why aren’t there more scary commercials? Because babies? Listen, if we pulled every great advertising idea “because babies” we’d hardly be able to sell anything, so I refuse to accept that answer. If you want to grab someone’s attention, ya gotta scare ‘em! Have a vampire drink your competitor’s spaghetti sauce, implying that they make it with blood! Have a ghost pop out of a toaster and then say buy Pop Tarts, not ghosts! Throw toilet paper at a monster! LET THIS COMMERCIAL BE THE BEGINNING!

It is a good tire commercial, though. (Via Gawker.)